{"id":120510,"date":"2019-07-20T07:39:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T12:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=120510"},"modified":"2019-07-22T08:25:11","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T13:25:11","slug":"120510","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/07\/20\/120510\/","title":{"rendered":"VW couple shares 50th with Moon landing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most people in America are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin\u2019s Moon landing today, a Van Wert couple will also celebrate a half century of marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mike and Marcia Wise are shown in a recent studio portrait. <\/strong> photos provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On July 20, 1969, while Armstrong and Aldrin were preparing to fulfill the promise made by President John F. Kennedy to land a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s, local residents Mike and Marcia (Stripe) Wise were also fulfilling their own promises: to love and honor each other, in sickness and health, at First Church of Christ in Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple said it was a coincidence that their marriage 50 years ago just happened to fall on the day the first humans landed on the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we had planned,\u201d Marcia Wise said with a smile. \u201cIt was NASA that decided to make it their day, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Wises remembered the day well, with Marcia noting that it was \u201cthe hottest, the muggiest\u201d day — so hot and muggy that the dye in the crepe paper streamers that hung from their car on the ride through town started to run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two met in 1965 when Mike Wise\u2019s family moved back to Van Wert after his father retired from the U.S. Army. The family moved into a house built by Mike\u2019s grandfather that, coincidentally, was across the alley from the house Marcia\u2019s family lived in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcia said that Mike always joked that \u201cyou\u2019re supposed to love your neighbor and, boy, do I.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After living next door to each other for a couple of years, the couple began dating their junior year of high school. Mike \u201cpopped the question\u201d on Valentine\u2019s Day 1969 and the couple decided to get married in July of that year. July 20, to be exact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcia said she did the planning for the wedding — the first \u201cfancy\u201d wedding she ever attended — noting that her home economics classes provided her with the knowledge she needed to plan the couple\u2019s special day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Things didn\u2019t all go exactly as planned, though, Marcia recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best man lost his car keys and Mike forgot the wedding band,\u201d Marcia said, noting that her twin sister, Martha, had to loan the best man, who was also her fianc\u00e9, her car keys so he could go get the ring for the ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcia also recalled that it was the first wedding ever for the church\u2019s new pastor, Tom Reynolds, and he nervously called her by her twin sister\u2019s name during the ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m thinking we\u2019re really married?\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Marcia and Mike Wise on their wedding day: July 20, 1969.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Marcia noted that her younger brother, Kelly, and Mike\u2019s sister, Terry, were the ring bearer and flower girl for the wedding. That created a small problem, though, when it came time for wedding photos. Marcia had told Kelly not to get cake on his tuxedo, but when it came time for wedding photos, he was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, it was discovered that he had changed clothes so he could eat some cake, but had to change back for the photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t want to get dirty,\u201d Marcia said. \u201cHe obeyed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcia noted, fondly, that the roses placed on the altar for the wedding came from her father\u2019s flower garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The plaque and artwork shown were given to Mike Wise when he celebrated his 50th anniversary with AEP on June 16.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe raised beautiful roses and mom arranged them,\u201d Marcia said, adding that her father often brought her roses over the years before he passed away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the ceremony, the couple left for their honeymoon at the Michigan lake cottage of Mike\u2019s uncle, Bob Wise, although some minor mishaps also followed them there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we went out (of the cottage), the screen door slammed and locked us out, and Mike had to crawl through a window to unlock the door,\u201d Marcia said, noting that her new husband also accidentally put his thumb through a rubber raft they were on and it deflated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evening ended well, though, and the couple stayed up to watch the astronauts land on the Moon before retiring for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, this year is a string of 50th anniversaries for the couple, who will attend their 50th class reunion in September, while Mike Wise celebrated his 50th work anniversary at AEP on June 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike talked briefly about how he came to be hired at what was then the Ohio Power Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike noted that he had worked at Balyeat\u2019s Coffee Shop while in high school, and Ohio Power\u2019s then manager, Ralph Walker, used to come in often to eat at Balyeat\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker apparently liked Mike\u2019s attitude and work ethic and eventually asked him to apply for a job at the electric utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate their special day, the Wises said they planned to drive down to Wapakoneta today for the festivities at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum to honor the 50th anniversary of Armstrong and Aldrin\u2019s historic achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No doubt they\u2019ll also take some time to celebrate their own momentous achievement: 50 years of happy marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor While most people in America are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin\u2019s Moon landing today, a Van Wert couple will also celebrate a half century of marriage. On July 20, 1969, while Armstrong and Aldrin were preparing to fulfill the promise made by President John F. Kennedy to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 02:02:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120510\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}